“We are interviewing people now for chief of staff,” the president said five days after he announced John Kelly would leave the post at the end of the year. Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, turned him down Sunday and is leaving the White House to leave Washington and work for a pro-Trump political action group.

Beto O'Rourke has continued to put out feelers for a possible run for the presidency in 2020 — most recently gauging interest from prominent black Democrats like former president Barack Obama and Florida governor candidate Andrew Gillum.

O'Rourke, the lame-duck Democratic congressman who narrowly lost to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in the Texas Senate race in November, has spoken with Obama, Gillum, and Rev. Al Sharpton over the last few of weeks.

There’s a group of new members of the 116th Congress who have served former presidents, including Reps.-elect Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., and Colin Allred, D-Texas. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

A group of newcomers to Capitol Hill is bringing experience from the executive branch to the 116th Congress.

They draw from a cast of former White House or Cabinet staffers and high-ranking officials from the administrations of the past two Democratic presidents. These new members, who once had to defend their administration’s policies, now find themselves on the other side of the table, promising oversight of the executive branch.

Former presidents, vice presidents, first ladies and President Donald Trump attend the state funeral of former President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral on Wednesday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President George H.W. Bush’s funeral, by design, was not about the sitting commander in chief, but there were moments when Donald Trump’s presence was paramount.

The 41st president’s son, George W. Bush, never mentioned the 45th president by name during his humorous and emotional eulogy for his father. But there were moments during his remarks that made clear the deep differences between the elder Bush and Trump.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as they join other former presidents and vice presidents and their spouses for the state funeral for former President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In one of the most-anticipated political moments in some time, President Donald Trump took his place in the front row alongside the “Presidents Club” at George H.W. Bush’s state funeral. The first ladies joined their husbands — but Hillary Clinton did not seem impressed.

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., after being sworn in as the 44th president in 2009. Rush beat Obama in the Democratic primary for a House seat in 2000. (CQ Roll Call file photo)

The only politician to ever defeat Barack Obama in an election introduced a bill to designate the portion of Interstate Route 57 as “Barack Obama Highway.”

Illinois Democrat Rep. Bobby Rush said his move is in part a response to President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump attends a United Nations meeting on the global drug problem in New York on Monday. World leaders responded to his boasts about achievements Tuesday with several rounds of laughter. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

World leaders, in a stunning and awkward rebuke, laughed at President Donald Trump on Tuesday. He responded by lashing out at one of the women who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when both were in college.

Trump began what was billed by his top aides as a major foreign policy address targeting Iran and setting the stage for new talks with North Korea by touting what he sees as top domestic accomplishments. The United Nations General Assembly hall in New York seemed a strange place for what has become a campaign-trail applause line in front of his “Make America Great Again” gear-sporting supporters. And the world leaders there to hear his message agreed.